Introduction
Cullen skink is a thick Scottish soup of smoked haddock, potatoes, onion and milk. It is smoky and filling, and with bread it makes a full meal on a cold evening. It takes about 50 minutes and only one pot.
The soup comes from the fishing town of Cullen, on the Moray coast in the north-east of Scotland, where haddock was plentiful. Skink is an old Scots word for a shin of beef, which came to mean a soup made from it. It is still common all over Scotland, at home and as a starter at formal dinners. Buy undyed smoked haddock, which is pale cream rather than bright yellow. Keep the soup below the boil once the milk is in.
Ingredients
- 400 g undyed smoked haddock fillets
- 600 ml milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 25 g butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 500 g floury potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
- 300 ml water
- a small bunch of chives, chopped
- black pepper, and salt if needed
Tools
- A large pot with a lid
- A slotted spoon
Preparation
- Put the haddock, milk and bay leaf in the pot and bring slowly to a simmer. Poach for 4 to 5 minutes, until the fish flakes. Lift it out with the slotted spoon and pour the milk into a jug.
- Melt the butter in the pot over a medium heat and cook the onion for about 8 minutes, until soft but not brown.
- Add the potatoes and water, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are very soft.
- Mash about a third of the potatoes against the side of the pot to thicken the soup, then pour in the milk, without the bay leaf.
- Flake the haddock, removing any skin and bones, and stir it in. Heat gently for 5 minutes without boiling.
- Season with pepper, taste before adding salt (the fish is salty) and serve with the chives on top.